No grease on the freehub when fitting the cassette?

It’s no bother to do with marigolds :D

Good effort but check everything that needs to be greased is greased and everything that needs threadlock is threadlocked!

Funny quote in the papers today along the lines of Ashton saying he has heard people saying he is out of form but he really doesn’t understand what these people are talking about. He goes on to justify his love of tackling by bringing up recent shoulder charges and his desire to hurt people. More than likely some selective use of quotes in these papers but funny nonetheless :D

£5.48 Pork Rind grips

Ok, so not branded as Titec but exactly the same grips. Just a bit of hair spray and they hold rock solid. Can’t ask for more!

Glad I still have my old Fox!

For reference if anyone view this thread for UK warranty of Magura forks then the phone number posted above goes through to Magura Spares UK who do not do warranty repairs (but accept paid repairs). In my case they will go back to Bike-Discount.de but I am unsure of who does warranty repairs for Magura in the UK. I suspect no-one so all repairs are carried out in Germany but I may well be wrong.

I have used Justridingalong after going through the local options as found them much better than the actual LBS… not in the least bit helpful if you don’t have Stans (although they may work on other wheels). JRA build a far better wheel than Hope that’s for sure (spoke lost tension very quickly after a hub warranty replacement)

Twisting side to side vertically, or horizontally?

I would describe it as twisting side to side vertically, as in pressing down on the right side of the bars, then pushing down on the left side of the bars.

I’ll contact Magura and BikeDiscount on Monday but was curious if I had missed something stupid over the weekend.

Thank you everyone

Does anyone else have any suggestions for easy fixes or any experience with Magura warranty in the UK?

It was from Bikediscount.de which is why I want to eliminate something simple I may have overlooked before sending them off and being without forks for a few weeks.

Also it bothers me that most of the England backline look fresh out of One Direction :D

And Youngs in the loose Wrecker.

England have some very good players but still leave themselves open with guys like Ashton and Goode. I know they have their merits but England have so many other options who could offer more in attack (they wouldn’t be loosing anything in defense!). I guess as it is at the moment they don’t need to risk much in attack as playing average is a more than successful strategy at the moment.

The England forwards were immense and are making the England scorelines look more flattering than the overall performance deserves. That’s rugby though and it is up to the other team to disrupt that!

France seem determined to lose! Chinese betting syndicate watching this game intently? :D

Woodward said it right… Frances decisions and subs are “criminal” :D

Good to see Ashton fancies another game without any tackling :D

I don’t have much experience with them online but as a LBS they are pretty good and always to to chat to for a bit of advice

In the article about Gethin heading back to the Diff it says:

The experience of Gethin and Matthew Rees, along with the likes of Gavin Evans and Dafydd Hewitt who are really experienced players, will help- Phil Davies

Is Mathew Rees headed to Cardiff too?

While Gethin coming back to Wales is great he (and many of the internationals, especially at Cardiff) rarely played for their clubs. The combination of international fixtures and injuries in between international fixtures means very often these players are poor value for money as far as the clubs are concerned. I don’t know the number but Gethin seemed to have very few games with Cardiff in his final season…

Raceface Next SL or Rotor were the top of my list of XTR alternatives. Went with Rotor as super solid and much cheaper than the Raceface carbon cranks. Very happy with the cranks!

Ouch, truth hurts! I am preparing the 1 inch slicks for a good off road ride tomorrow to redeem myself :D

I hadn’t cosidered much riding around Swindon, but there seem to be a lot of positive comments for all of the hard work and I’m reasonably local so I will pop along for a look soon :D

Njee is right. Mud-X are very robust in comparison to a Dirty Dan.

I use both and use the Dan as a “nice” or “race” tyre although it has managed 5 months of regular use throughout this winter (this time means little to other conditions/ riders I know). The thread on the rear sidewall is now looking iffy so I have bought another. The blocks did break away a bit on the first few rides on the rear too although they degraded little since then. I am now going to put the old front on the rear and hopefully the blocks won’t break away so much now they are a bit more broken in. The front looks almost new despite the rear being knackered. The rolling resistance also feels low (lower than Medusa/ Trailraker/ etc) despite the mud knobbles. It is a great tyre is you are prepared to accept a slightly reduce lifespan compared to heavier tyres.

The Mud-x is better a better all round tyre and more than robust enough for my South Wales riding (which is plenty rocky!). I would be happy to leave this on all year but I wouldn’t say the same for the Dan. If you are happy with the Mud-X then I don’t think you can beat it unless you are looking for lower weight.

Just my thoughts!

P.S. If you are coping with Minions/ Barons/ etc in the winter then either ride a road bike or man up and ride some proper mud :D

What do you gain by rushing things?

What do you stand to lose by rushing?

6 weeks isn’t long, surely it is best to take medical advice and be patient to reduce the risk of future complications/ pain??? Different people will respond to surgery differently so I certainly wouldn’t be looking for answers on STW!

Reassuring to know!

Another question would be: What else would you consider in the 100mm, light XC frame to be raced and ridden hard day to day?

Scalpel is too much of a race frame for me.
Anthem is nice but not so light and I feel expensive for what it is.
Epic is again nice but not so light or special for the money.
Yeti As-R C doesn’t have geometry I feel would suit me.
Rocky Mountain Element RSL looks fantastic but gets mixed reviews (I know it didn’t slow Matt Page down though!)

The only other frame on my list at the moment is the Orbea Oiz Carbon which I don’t think would match up to the SC in normal riding (as opposed to racing)…

I would be looking for a Medium I’m afraid

Don’t know why I kept referring to it as VPS??? I think that was Norco’s old approach but I may be mistaken. I guess the thought a virtual pivot suspension system completely overwhelmed my single pivot brain :D

Any more pictures to share?

Any advice on how to get the best deal?

I would imagine waiting for the end of season discounts on Stif is the best bet as they had Blurs for £1750 for quite a while in a range of sizes… now just silly sizes

Can you describe the different approach to single pivot Mike?

I would imagine that VPS and the like require slightly more thoughtful body position to get the bike going how you want whereas on single pivot you are bouncing around, popping and sliding the whole time :D

Oh and njee, what riding style do you feel isn’t so suited to the Blur? Constant out of the saddle hammering, seated slow tech climbs where it might hang up, constant sit and spin….?

Thanks everyone!

Good to know the VPS holds up well. I thought I would only ever buy single pivot as the thought of all those bearings scares me :D I’m sure I would soon get over it :wink:

Njee, what about the way it pedaled bothered you? I have heard VPS described as wooden while others seem to struggle with “pedal feedback” on the Blur. As I am currently on a single pivot Superlight the chain tensioning under pedaling does not bother me in the slightest although theres no was you would call the SL wooden- far too sprightly to be dull. Maybe the Blur might feel a bit more boring by comparison although I doubt it :? I would definitely try before letting that amount of pennies go.

8.8kg build is night light stuff but nothing too crazy: XTR 1×10, Magura Durin, Podium rims on American Classic, Onza or Schwalbe tyres, Syntace F109, FSA K-Force Nanolight bars, SLR, Ti Eggbeaters, MT Zoom and KCNC for the finshing bits, ti and alu bolts throughout. Only extravagance so far is a Smud bottle cage. Ultimate aim is 8.5kg with I-Links mini, 4Ti Eggbeaters, a bit more tuning and a Berk combo 8O

What on earth happened 15s in on the first video???

Do SC replace all bearings FOC too? The website would suggest they do…

Very jealous of the luxury item you have lying around there. Any pics to entice me in to a purchase even more? :D

Finally got S4C working on the phone :D

Scarlets are leading Munster 15-3 at the moment. Samson Lee (of rough buggers for a no nonsense mid week Lions team fame in earlier posts) is on so I look forward to some “niggle” :D

The new young 10 is looking good again this week while ROG is bandaged like a mummy!

Are there any other live streams for Scarlets/ Munster?

Damn S4C Live Player doesn’t want to work :(

Does anyone else have any experience with the day to day practicalities of living with a carbon Santa Cruz?

The 5 year warranty and rather generous crash replacement policy somewhat calm the nerves of destroying such an expensive frame

Complaining about it is a bit like going to a gay bar when you are very straight. There was a sign above the door… what were you expecting? If you came in curious… well now you now know.

Surly should have added this to the end of the blog. I’m sure they would love to be referred to as the “gay bar” of MTB :D

Pics of the new box!

Oh and the bike looks alright too :D

I am not sure how ok it is to ride up a road marked as a footpath mostly from the point of view they always seem to be shooting in that area! I have been several times midweek, early weekend, late in the day over a weekend and every time lots of shots going off. I thought it must be ok as the shoot have to be safe but it turns out the safety advice is to only ever “shoot up” which is fine besides the fact the road is higher than the woods they shoot in! I’m alive so it must be fine :D

I have seen the video too and Santa Cruz seem to have a good practical philosophy when designing their bikes (i.e. to actually be ridden!). That is one of the big draws towards SC over other brands for me.

In what way does the LTc “chip” is it just the paint finish?

I think the video is from Giles iirc and he and many others were very kind in sharing routes when I moved to Bath. I haven’t been here long but have covered everything in the vid now :)

From Upton Cheyney how about climb up Lansdown Lane to the Racecourse, descend the bridelway towards manor farm by Laneridge, lanes to Upper Swainswick, up the footpath towards Wingfield farm (its a road), then the By Way across Holts Down which ends with the descent in the video. Many possibilities from there depending on how long you want the ride to be.

I am sure other will have better suggestions. The only part that will be hard going is the climb up Lansdown Lane from Upton Cheyney as it is a little boggy at the start of the offroad bit.

P.S. No, none of the video is in any way Browns Folley, Warleigh Wood, Conwell Wood in one nice singletrack run as it’s a footpath off limits…

The blog doesn’t make them sound like cool brus, more like a hippy LBS that is too gnar for your custom :D The later response isn’t too much better despite pointing out it was intended in humour :?

They do make some fair points although both entries come across as immature rather than funny (but then I don’t think Surly is aimed at me so maybe I just don’t “get it”)…

I was under the impression that all rotors are the same thickness except for Hayes which use a thicker rotor. The thickness should be 1.7-1.8mm iirc (not accounting for poor tolerances).

The only other things you need to watch for are rivets in floating rotors fouling calipers or the braking surface area on the rotor not quite matching up to the braking surface area on the pads (as brake pads vary in width).

In reality, so long as you don’t use Hayes rotors you will be fine :D

My comment about Pinaar against the Ospreys was more that Ulster didn’t appear to play with a fly half :D It was just Ruan completely running the show for Ulster to the extent of appearing to be at both 9 and 10… does he have a brother? :D

I haven’t watched the Dragon this season but a struggle wouldn’t be a surprise given the number of players who left/ are injured. Who are the leading lights in the Dragons squad this season?

Watched the Ospreys and Ulster on iplayer today and Pinaar was awesome yet again. Certainly not his best game but such a talent. Do Ulster play with 3 centres and let Ruan cover 9 and 10 combined? :D